Michigan Passes Ban on
Assisted Suicide

By Liz Townsend

Faced with Jack Kevorkian's escalating crusade, the Michigan legislature passed a law July 2 making assisted suicide a felony punishable by five years in prison and a $10,000 maximum fine. The law, which Gov. John Engler pledged to sign, will go into effect September 1.

"The work the legislature has done ... ought to put Jack Kevorkian out of business and end that sorry spectacle that's been playing out these many years," Gov. John Engler told United Press International.

The legislature's work could be undone, however, if voters support a referendum legalizing assisted suicide that is expected to appear on the ballot in November. The referendum would supersede the new law.

However, supporters of the referendum, organized in a group named "Merian's Friends" after the 19th person Kevorkian "assisted," are worried that voters will reject the referendum based on disapproval of Kevorkian.

"He's hurting our campaign because many people think he is associated with Merian's Friends," Ed Pierce, chairman of the group, told the Detroit News. "He's not." The most recent poll, conducted by the News in June, showed support for the referendum at only 44%.

On July 2 the Michigan House voted 59-41 to pass the final version of the assisted suicide ban. The bill's sponsor, state Sen. William Van Regenmorter, described the statute as "a straightforward, clear, unambiguous, black-letter law under which someone like Jack Kevorkian can be arrested and charged and prosecuted."

Kevorkian, however, immediately lashed out lawmakers who dared to pass the ban. "The Michigan legislature is a tool of the Inquisition," he told the Associated Press. "It is a lie. They would burn us at the stake if it wasn't for a jury." Kevorkian asserted that he will fight the law in court as soon as it goes into effect.

However, Kevorkian's court battles now have to be fought without one of his lawyers, Michael Odette, who resigned from the legal team after Kevorkian harvested organs from one of his victims. Although Kevorkian advertised the organs for use in a kidney transplant, not one hospital or physician even considered using them.

Despite Kevorkian's assertions that the removal of victim Joseph Tushkowski's kidneys was done in a sterile environment by a surgical team, medical examiner L. J. Dragovic called the work a "mutilation" after he performed an autopsy on Tushkowski. According to the Detroit Free Press, Dragovic said that the " surgical team" did not even take off Tushkowski's clothes and removed the kidneys by making three crude abdominal incisions.

"After the organ deal, my seven-year-old son told me, 'Dad, you shouldn't represent him. They should throw him in jail and melt the key,'" attorney Odette told the Detroit Free Press. "You know, I've got a family to think about here. That kind of did it for me."

Odette said he still supports assisted suicide, but not Kevorkian's organ-harvesting scheme. "He went too far this time, and I want no part of it any more," he said.

Odette's decision may also be attributed to the fact that he is running for the state Senate. "I think this is probably the best thing for Odette to do," Ed Sarpolus, vice president of a Lansing, Michigan, polling firm, told the Detroit News. "As we see in our own polling, support for Kevorkian has dropped. Anyone associated with him will have the same kind of response."

Another candidate with ties to Kevorkian is his flamboyant lawyer Geoffrey Fieger, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor. Due to high name recognition and his ability to make outrageous statements that attract media attention, polls have shown that he has a good chance of winning the August 4 primary. However, he would still be a long shot to defeat the popular Republican Gov. Engler.

"Indeed, while polls have Fieger running ahead of the pack in the Democratic primary," the Washington Post reported, "they also show that Engler would garner the widest margin of victory if Fieger were his opponent in the general election."

Even Fieger has begun distancing himself from Kevorkian as well, leaving the public legal work for Kevorkian to his partner Michael Schwartz during the campaign. When asked by the Washington Post if Kevorkian would be appointed to a position in his administration if he becomes governor, Fieger answered that he "will not be my lieutenant governor. Can you imagine a man with more skeletons in his closet than Jack Kevorkian?"